FAKE SHEMP - OPINIONS NEVER DIE, THEY BLOG

Throughout my lifetime, I've discovered many-many great things coming out of the North Easterly British county, Newcastle Upon Tyne. The over emphasis on the letter 'O': being one of them. And Cheryl Cole: being another. But for yours truly -- your ever grateful Artful Dodger disguised as a blogger -- I'd have to say that the my mate Rachael is the best out of the lot. Here, check out this conversation I had with her only the other day, whilst we were kicking the cr*p out of Ant and Dec. Oooo!

1) What are your own origins, Rachael? Plus what path did you take in life to get to where you are today?Makes me sound like a superhero. Ha! I'm currently 25, but most of the time I'm refused the service of alcohol down my local pub -- which is fine and dandy -- cause most of the time I'm straight edged. (unless I'm not, then I'm not).

As for what path I took? Well, I got in the car with a friend of mine, and we had a pub lunch together because I was off work for the rest of the day.

2) What inspired you to create your blog site, ‘Fake Shemp’? I used to run a movie review / news blog many years ago on some UK blogging site. It became rather popular over time, plus I used to have plenty of time to run it too.

Then, once I finished Uni, and had to go out into the real world, that got pushed to one side, and eventually scrapped.

Boo!

My love of movies never went away though, and I would often be on review sites like 'Rotten Tomatoes', but it wasn't the same as running your own site, huh?

My use of forums went bye-bye too. I used to use them to discuss television shows / movies / music, and at one certain place -- BuffyBoards -- it became my online home (except I never used the place to talk about the show just to check in and hang out with online friends).

3) From my own nerdy knowledge, I know that the term ‘fake shemp’ was coined by Sam Raimi (care of the Three Stooges) during the production of ‘Evil Dead’: to mean ‘stand-in’ or ‘replacement’ actor. Now did you know this fact, and why did you decide to christen your site with this particular phrase? Fake Shemp was the name I used for BuffyBoards; and have used on most of the sites I've joined since.

I did use it because of my love of Evil Dead -- and the meaning of it.

Just before that, I had joined DVDaficianado (now FilmAf) -- a web-forum where you can catalouge your movie / tv show collection. On their I used the name 'the-real-Linda' (another nod to Evil Dead, wink-wink!).

Fake Shemp just became my online persona. I figured why not just use that. My twitter handle and the name of my site. One name to rule them all -- its the name of my tumblr and my gomiso -- just keep it all the same -- same avatar and background where I can as well.

I went back to an old Flixter account and read some old reviews, and was astonished at how much my opinions had changed on the movies I had reviewed. A review is a snapshot -- it's not how I've always felt -- just how I do at that moment. I felt "fake shemp" stood for that, not a solid opinion. Just what I think now. A stand in for a final opinion that will never come.

4) If your site omitted a smell, what odor do you think it would be? The smell of Autumn: Y'know falling leaves and crisp air.

5) Although I know this might change in the future, could you list your top five favorite actors of all time? Everything changes, so as of right now, in any given order I gues: Bruce Campbell, Tom Hardy, Denzel Washington, Christoph Waltz, and Adrian Brody

6) Same question as above, but for movies instead. Labyrinth, Evil Dead 2, The Breakfast Club, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Happy-Go-Lucky

7) If ‘Shemp’ was a song, what song would it be and why? A ska song. The one with total bummer lyrics but the happy music makes it upbeat and awesome. Something by Reel Big Fish or Catch 22.

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8) If you could get a celebrity – either living or dead – to promote your blogsite, what person would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person? Sam Raimi. It has to be, right? Getting the stamp of approval from the man who coined the term would be orgasmic.

9) During your time as a blogger, what is the one thing that has kept you in good stead? Interaction with other movie geeks. I love discussion and the feedback; especially through twitter. Feeling the passion for the thing I love most from people all around the world, who I wouldn't talk to without this shared interest is really fun and interesting.

Ditto, Rachael. I know exactly what you mean. So their you have it, dear reader. Fake Shemp: My pals blogsite to a tea. When you've got a bit of time please give it a click or ten. Plus don't forget to do the tweet-tweet thing either. God bless.

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